Friday, December 2, 2016

The Princess and the Pipe

Psalm 46:1God is our refuge and our strength,and ever-present help in trouble.On Tuesday of Thanksgiving week, I pick up my oldest granddaughter, Virginia Rose, and embark on the long, back-roads journey to my mother's home in Oxford, Georgia. It is the first time Virginia will be spending the night at her great grandmother's, and she is beside herself with excitement. I, too, am elated by the prospect of having my special little lady with me for a few days, and looking forward to helping Mom with Thanksgiving dinner.We land at the house mid-afternoon. As the weather is unusually balmy, Virginia wants to go out on the spacious screened porch on the side of the house. (You can just glimpse it in the photo above.) We are not out there more than five minutes, when an unexpected visitor shows up, meowing and begging for attention at the porch door. Virginia is enchanted and enthralled by her new friend, and promptly dubs her "Princess."

Princess, obviously enamored by Virginia's attention, visits us multiple times the following day. No matter where we walk in the yard, the kitty stays close on our heels."I have an idea, Virginia," I say when we've tired of tossing the bouncy ball back and forth. "Why don't we take a walk down the road to the Old Church?"

"Okay, Gammie," she says, "but do you think Princess will come, too?""She just might," I affirm.We start off and, sure enough, Princess is faithfully trailing, albeit at a greater distance than she had in the yard. Virginia keeps looking over her shoulder to check the cat's progress and calling out encouragements to her to keep up. But as soon as we reach the grounds of the church, Princess is nowhere to be found."Here, Princess!" Virginia cries worriedly.I try to reassure her. "Maybe she got tired of walking, honey, and just turned around to go home. We'll see her soon. I promise."Virginia is anxious for her friend, though, so we don't linger at the Old Church for long. It's back we go, eyes peeled for Princess, and Virginia calling her name. As luck would have it, we spy her little head peeping warily out of a drain pipe. In a moment, we know exactly why she is hiding.

Turkey vultures!!! An enormous flock has appeared above us, swooping and gliding ominously, some even landing on the road in front of the Old Church!"That's why Princess is in the pipe," I tell Virginia. "She is afraid of those turkey vultures; I don't think she'll venture out until they've flown away."Wanting to offer her scared kitty some comfort, Virginia slides down the shallow ditch so she can reach into the pipe and stroke Princess' head. "It's going to be okay, Princess," she says soothingly. "We won't let the big bad birds get you."We wait there for what seems an eternity before the worrisome vultures decide to depart as quickly as they came. Seeing at last that the coast is clear, Princess ventures out from the refuge of the pipe and faithfully follows us all the way back to the house.

~

Princess knew instinctively where to run for cover when danger threatens. When we are waist-deep in trials and struggles, is our first impulse to seek God, our refuge and our strength, or do we strive to go it alone?

I hope and pray we all remember God's ever-present help in times of trouble.

What an amazing illustration, Martha! Turning to God always for protection is the best thing we could do; on our own we're so very powerless. It's amazing how animals know how to seek safe places--we humans could learn so much from them.

Yes, Kim, we certainly could learn a lot if we would take our cues from God's amazing creatures. I'm so glad you enjoyed the illustration here. And as you can tell by the photos, Virginia truly enjoyed her time with Princess (I did, too).Love and blessings!

Amen, Pamela! He is the ultimate hiding place. Your comment reminded me of Corrie ten Boom's amazing book, "The Hiding Place." I read it again two years ago, and it certainly had such a Godly impact on my way of seeing the amazing ways in which the Lord works in our lives, no matter how desperate our times might be.Our refuge and our strength - what a blessing!Love and blessings!

This reminded me of one of my favorite verses, Psalm 91:4--He will cover you with his feathers; under his wings you will find refuge. Odd that in the verse the wings are where we are protected, but for Princess she was seeking refuge in the pipe to escape the threat of the wings above. Hmm. I shouldn't overthink this!

Lovely story, as was your last post about reading the Bible all the way through in a year. Your post was right on target! As always!

No, Galen, no need to overthink. When I think of the verse you mention above, I'm reminded of Jesus' wish that He could gather Jerusalem under His wings as does a mother hen. These birds were absolutely daunting and threatening! Yet, I tried to remember in watching them that they are God's creatures, too.Thank you so much for your kind words. I'm enjoying your posts, too, my friend, as you well know.Love and blessings!

Baili, we did have such a marvelous time! I'm planning to take Virginia back down to see her great grandmother in two weeks since she will be on vacation from school. It's such a blessing to still have my Mom with us.Merry Christmas to you!Love and blessings!

Hi Martha! What a smart little cat, and I can learn a lot from her. Sometimes we think 'going it alone' is so smart, when all along we're supposed to find our rest in the shadow of his wings. We aren't always up to the challenge of evil or trouble, no matter how strong we think we are.Looks like you had a fun night with your three generations. What a beautiful memory!Ceil

It is a beautiful memory, Ceil, and I can't begin to tell you how grateful I am to still have my Mom with us.Yes, I can't count how many times I've made the mistake of thinking God is too busy to hear my concerns - I can get this on my own. Think again, girl! We so need His help every minute of every day, bad times and good ones. It's a lifelong lesson to keep learning, that's for sure.Love and blessings!

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Have you met Davy? Racer? Reverend? If you haven't you're missing out on a reading adventure bar none! I have six novels published, and you can visit me and order at my author's website: www.gladetrilogy.wix.com/theglade. Hope you will all become avid readers and fans! If you're on Facebook, you can also keep up with me at www.facebook.com/nantahala55.
I am blessed to be married to my wonderful Danny Together, we share four children (two "step" for each of us). We enjoy spending time with our almost eight-year-old granddaughter, Virginia Rose, and granddaughter, Savannah Jane, who just turned four this past April. Our third grand-girl, Alexandra Nancy, will celebrate her third birthday on July 23. How blessed we are! We also share a deep love and commitment to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and rejoice in being heirs of the Kingdom through His sacrifice.